Quarshie goes back to his roots for Holby

HOLBY City is shifting thousands of miles overseas to Ghana, as part of the BBC Africa season, following the fortunes of consultant Ric Griffin as he tries to establish a new life for himself.

For actor Hugh Quarshie, who plays Ric, it has provided him with the opportunity both to revisit his country of birth, and get to grips with one of his most rewarding storylines yet in the hospital-based soap. "Ric's larger-than-life ex-wife Lola has just rolled up in Holby," explains the actor, "and I think her appearance is the last straw for him, so he decides to take a job in Ghana.

"He sees it as a way of escaping the politics and stresses in his own life. It's somewhere he can recharge himself by getting back to uncomplicated medicine.

"The irony is, when he gets there, he realises there's no such thing, especially when you're constantly hustling to get funding for your clinic and struggling to find qualified doctors and nurses."

Quarshie was born in Accra, Ghana, where his father worked for the government. "I was three-and-a-half when we moved over to the UK," he says. "My dad was sent over by the new Ghana government to open the high commission in London and the embassy in Paris. He wasn't an ambassador himself, but he was a senior civil servant.

"You often get the impression it was similar to that famous chocolate ad, and was all chauffeur-driven Mercedes. But it wasn't like that at all."

Quarshie himself went on to be educated at Oxford.

"Well, I'm not sure quite how educated I was," he laughs, "but I was in the same college as Richard Curtis. I was one year behind Tony Blair and one ahead of Peter Mandelson, and I still haven't got a knighthood. Actually, I'm holding out for a peerage."

He admits that over the years, his connection with Ghana faded a little, particularly following his dad's death. However, on this return journey, things were a little different.

"I took my two daughters - Maya, 15, and Freya, nine - with me to see the country of their father's birth and suddenly it mattered very much to me that they enjoyed it and had a good time. And I'm very pleased and proud to say they did."

With so much of Quarshie's own background feeding into the plot, he did have a small hand in its creation.

"The storyline didn't exactly come from me," he reveals, "but I had long talks with the writer and I think he picked up one or two aspects of my life.

"My own relationship with my father wasn't quite so dramatic as Ric's was. There's a scene in this episode in a graveyard, which doesn't quite marry with the time I visited my own parent's grave - but if that sequence hadn't come off, then the episode as a whole wouldn't have worked.

"It's here he comes to terms with his past and the rather uneasy relationship he had with his dad.

"Thankfully, I didn't have the same difficulties. When I visited my father's grave in Ghana it was almost comical. I went there with some of my half-brothers and we laid a wreath, bowed our heads and shared silent grief.

"It was a solemn moment as we walked back to the cars, sadder but wiser men. And then, suddenly from behind us a voice went: 'Ere, mate, can I have your autograph?'

"But it was in keeping with the kind of man my father was - he could turn everything and anything into an amusing anecdote, so he would have enjoyed that.

"We were in Africa for five weeks and I stayed on to make a documentary for Radio 3. I also kept an audio diary and had an audience with the king of Ashanti during a festival where people came to pay tribute and knelt before him. We were privileged to witness all this and have a private audience.

"So, there were good reasons for staying after the Holby crew had returned home, and it was a delight to be back after so many years."

As for the BBC's season of Africa-related programmes, Quarshie says: "I think it's great that they've done this. Of course, they will be open to the accusation that this is just the view of white Westerners, but in a way they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.

"But it's commendable they've committed so much of their resources to film in the country, during the year of the Gleneagles summit, Live 8 and the cancelling of the debt. This is the greatest work I've done for Holby. I think it's one of the best episodes written. I'm very proud of it."

Despite that, fans of the show might be left a little shaken by the story's conclusion, which sees Ric decide to stay on in the country for good. Does this mark the end of the consultant's time in the show?

Quarshie cracks a wide smile: "Well, come on. It wouldn't be Holby without Ric, would it?"

Cheekily, he adds: "They'll always contrive to get their best characters back. He has to stay in the country for the integrity of the episode, but for the integrity of the series, he must return."

Away from hospital corridors, the actor has also made something of a name for himself in film, notably landing a part in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. But, he has also been linked with another big screen role.

"I don't know where this came from," he says, referring to the rumours linking him to James Bond. "I thought Colin Salmon was up for it. I think I'd be a good villain, though. I'd be one of those really camp ones, sitting on a leather chair, stroking a cat and saying: 'Good evening Mr Bond, or should I call you 007?'.

"I'm sure I could do that quite well. But I can't even do a plausible Scottish or Irish accent, so I can't be James Bond, can I?"

Holby City, BBC One, Wednesday, 8pm

Here comes the Brideshead - late again

TVTimes, celebrates its 50th anniversary in September. This week we look back to 1981 . . .

AFTER more than two-and-a-half years in the making, at an official cost of 4million, Brideshead Revisited finally arrived on our screens.

Based on Evelyn Waugh's novel, it was the most eagerly awaited drama series ever - and the most troubled.

Brideshead had been delayed by a technicians' strike, by losing one of its stars for months to film commitments (Jeremy Irons was called away to make The French Lieutenant's Woman) and by having to change directors halfway through. It had gone twice over budget and was only saved because Granada TV realised it would be more expensive to scrap the show than to soldier on. The result, of course, was a triumph.

The story opened at Oxford University in the Twenties, when Charles Ryder (Jeremy) fell in with the teddy-hugging toff Lord Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews). Sebastian invited him back to Brideshead Castle to meet his very grand family.

"It's really a basic woman's magazine story where you always meet Mr Right by chance because you fall off your bicycle in the high street," script-writer John Mortimer said. "Of course, Brideshead is better and funnier than that."

With gorgeous settings and a stellar cast that included Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, the 13-hour series was a worldwide success.

SUNDAY VIEW

Waging The War Of The Worlds

(Channel 4, 4.30pm)

War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg's latest massive-budget sci-fi adventure, looks set to be another high-flyer on his CV of blockbusters.

The acclaimed director's last collaboration with leading man Tom Cruise, Minority Report, proved such an enjoyable and lucrative venture, that they have re-teamed to bring HG Wells' classic novel bang up to date.

For the uninitiated, the plot sees the human race facing extinction following a Martian invasion of Earth and, as you'd expect, Spielberg has spared no expense on the special effects which make this an exciting, thrill-packed and chilling ride.

Here, Crusie discusses his role, while the man behind the camera explains his life-long fascination with science fiction. Close Encounters of the Third Kind follows this preview show.

Hampton Court

Palace Flower Show

(BBC2, 6pm)

Charlie Dimmock and Joe Swift take up presenting duties for 2005's coverage of the 14th annual horticultural event, beginning with this preview programme.

The pair bring us the lowdown on what we can expect from both the show and water gardens on display, as well as tipping us the wink on the most popular trends.

They also chat to a few of the designers taking part who will be eager to see their creations crowned with a prestigious medal.

There's also an insight into the world of the garden specialist, courtesy of Carol Klein, while Wesley Kerr reports on the recent renovations made to the palace's grounds.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.